New Baby.

"Baby Crying." Ceal loves to pretend her baby is crying and patting her on the back.

Good thing Ceal loves babies, because a new one is coming August 15th! This has been quite a ride. I found out I was pregnant in mid-December. Everything was great for a week. Ceal and I went home to Indy for a week before Danny was coming home for Christmas. Two days before Christmas, I thought I miscarried. Many friends have been through it and I was thankful it was early into the pregnancy. We carried on and had a blast during Christmas. My mom and on call Nurse Laura Blaase wanted me to go to the nearby hospital a couple days after Christmas to be sure, so I did and found out I really was pregnant! Blood counts were high, but the ultrasound showed no baby. Danny and I had to wait another week and get an ultrasound in Chicago to see if the baby was there. The day before New Years, I started getting really sick which is where I am today...Still Sick.

Sure enough the ultrasound a week later showed a little munchkin growing. Now I was sick with Ceal, but these past 8 weeks have been brutal. Two sinus infections and many more illnesses that come along with pregnancy. Gagging, throwing up, no energy, and naucious ALL day long. There was no let up. I couldn't stand up out of bed, so I started Zofran, a strong medication for nauciousness. It allowed me to move through life, but no smiling allowed. I started praying for every precious sole with cancer that has to endure constant sickness through Chemo just to save their life. Ceal had to bring me everything from books to her toys. My students allow me to stare off in hopes I don't puke everywhere. My fifth graders come to class with an iron fist if they see me in a bad place. They check in on certain children and give them things to do, when they find them in the hallway. Bless them.

So now I just hope that this sickness goes away in the next couple of weeks, because my smile needs to come back full-time. I don't want to hear about anyone's beautiful pregnancies and feeling fabulous, so if you are one of them I think it is precious, but don't want to hear your story just yet. At this point I tell people how I feel and roll my eyes when the woman in the dry cleaners tells me that things can't be that bad. Because in all honestly, I know this, but after 8 weeks of feeling like hell you can't be too positive. I was nice for two weeks, and then realized it took too much energy. Now for fun, I tell my students that if I don't gag or throw up they have more homework. This way we all look forward to my daily pukings. You should hear the excitement when I begin to gag. Reggie brought in more tissue and just when I was going to thank him, he told me he was hiding them from me because I keep blowing my nose and wiping my face when I get sick. And then that delicious boy brought one in for myself and placed it on my desk with a note. "Please get better."

I can't tell what the highlight of these past 8 weeks has been so I will let you decide. Walking with Ceal and puking on the sidewalk while the construction men watched and rooted me on and a mom walked by with her children telling them not to look as if I was hungover and raising my child as a convict. OR

The ER episode when my heart was beating out of my chest 2 months pregnant as I realized one of my more precious children broke all my pencils in an attempt to scare a student after one of my girls put her scrambled eggs in the desk of another girl's because she threw her lunch away. I thought the ER was not going to be remotely scary compared to my class but I was wrong. A mentally unstable woman was undressing and fighting herself while trying to sit next to me in the waiting room for 2 yes 2 hours. Doc wants me to take it easy. "Perfect, I will let Ceal and my class know I need special care."

I will end by saying I feel super blessed to be pregnant. I get it. I love being a mom, but I am over being pregnant and well it's a little early in the pregnancy for that.